Indecency

In the Washington Post today, an article about the FCC and indecency reglations: Delays, Low Fines Weaken FCC Attack on Indecency: “The agency’s role as broadcast nanny has come under greater scrutiny in recent months as consumers and lawmakers grow concerned about the increasingly coarse content of radio and television — last year, the FCC received more than 1 million complaints about programs. Broadcasters say the FCC’s content guidelines are too tough and arbitrarily applied while some lawmakers, viewers and interest groups blame the agency for being too lax.”
Reuters reports that the Senate Commerce Committee will hold hearings on broadcast indecency later this month: US Senate panel to examine decency issues November 29: “The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee said on Tuesday it plans later this month to discuss indecent content aired on television to determine how to proceed on potential legislation to limit such material.”
This week’s episode of Family Guy, “PTV” was a hilarious satire of and attack on the FCC indecency regulations. In a crackdown, classic TV shows, like the Dick Van Dyke show are edited to meet heightened levels of scrutiny; After Peter starts his own television station, the Commission arrives to crack down on indecency in real life. This description obviously doesn’t do justice to the show, which included a musical number about the “Freakin’ FCC.”

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